Tag Archives: Craig Woodward

Submitted At its annual meeting and holiday luncheon, the Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) said goodbye to retiring Board of Directors members and welcomed new members to their Board. There was also a change of MIHS leadership as current president Tom Wagor transferred the gavel to the incoming president Pat Rutledge. Retiring board members Dottie Henderson, Kathy Miracco, Heidi Moss and Craig Woodward accepted the heartfelt gratitude of MIHS for all of their contributions during their board service, which included the fundraising for and the construction of the impressive Marco Island Historical Museum. The MIHS warmly welcomed new Board of ... Read More »

At their Annual Meeting and Holiday Luncheon, the Marco Island Historical Society said goodbye to retiring Board of Directors members and welcomed new members to their Board. There was also a change of Society leadership as current President, Tom Wagor, transferred the gavel to the incoming President, Pat Rutledge. Retiring Board members, Dottie Henderson, Kathy Miracco, Heidi Moss and Craig Woodward accepted the heartfelt gratitude of the Historical Society for all of their contributions during their Board service, which included the fund raising for and the construction of the impressive Marco Island Historical Museum. The MIHS warmly welcomed to their ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery and Craig Woodward During its Aug. 1 regular meeting, the city of Marco Island Planning Board approved a proposal from the Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) to name 11 currently unnamed alleys around the island after major players in Marco’s history. With a vote of 6-1, the proposal was passed onto City Council, but council has yet to set a date to review and consider the proposal. An initiative of the MIHS, the proposal will help mark the 50th anniversary of modern Marco, which begins January 2015. Society members believe it is a good time to ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery and Craig Woodward During its Aug. 1 regular meeting, the city of Marco Island Planning Board approved a proposal from the Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) to name 11 currently unnamed alleys around the island after major players in Marco’s history. With a vote of 6-1, the proposal was passed onto City Council for review and approval. The proposal is the brainchild of Marco Island historian and attorney Craig Woodward, who worked with several members of the MIHS to come up with local historical figures who were not already recognized in some way around the island. ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff On an otherwise quiet Tuesday evening in July, the Rose History Auditorium was filled almost to capacity as islanders and visitors alike came to hear Craig Woodward’s fascinating introduction of three vintage movies from Marco Island’s recent past. The Marco Island Historical Society sponsored the “Vintage Movies” event. Among the films shown were “Florida’s Emerald Island, Marco Island” (ca. 1982), “Marco Island” (ca. 1986-75) and “Marco Island: “Get Away From It All and Have it All” (ca. 1982). Woodward served as the tour guide transporting the audience back to the early days of modern Marco ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom natalie@coastalbreezenews.com CBN has done it again. The excellent staff at Coastal Breeze News has brought home four more awards for its work in 2013; this time from the Florida Press Association. Having already received seven national awards from the Association of Free Community Papers in April, Coastal Breeze is again being rewarded for the fruits of its labor with these latest honors from the FPA. The 2013 Better Weekly Newspaper Contest, hosted by the FPA, recently announced its random list of winners. The list can be found at www.flpress.com. Award placement will be announced in July at ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff The Association of Free Community Papers (AFCP) announced the winners of its annual Best of the Best competition at an industry conference held at Disney World in Orlando over the weekend of April 4. Publications from across the United States and Canada were represented. There were over 1,400 individual entries in 83 categories. Coastal Breeze News received: First Place: Andrew J. Shapiro award for Cancer Awareness. This is the third year in a row Coastal Breeze News has won this prestigious award – winning first place, then second the following year and first place ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom natalie@coastalbreezenews.com It’s a big year for Florida; so many reasons to celebrate. The year 2013 marks the 500th Anniversary of the discovery of Florida, the 85th Anniversary of the Tamiami Trail and the 90th Anniversary of Collier County – all of which are noteworthy in their own right. So, plan on parties throughout the year. Some may be similar to the night of May 8th, where a full auditorium celebrated the 90th Anniversary of Collier County thanks to the efforts of the Collier County Museums. The evening was held at North Collier Regional Park and promised four ... Read More »

By Craig Woodward The former Coconut Island was a traditional place to raft up your boat, along with your friends’ boats, on a lazy Sunday afternoon and have a cookout on the beach while everyone swam and simply relaxed. It was a beautiful location – just north of the future Hideaway Beach, due east of Isles of Capri, situated in the mouth of the Marco River and the view to the west was of the Gulf of Mexico and the setting sun. Hurricane Donna created Coconut Island in 1960 when the south tip of Cannon Island was cut off; over ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom natalie@coastalbreezenews.com It was late summer and the natives were getting restless. The slow, humid days dragged on and the mosquitoes – while not as bad as usual – pestered in the ears of us as we sat in front of our a.c. units to keep cool. We needed something fresh. We needed something new. And we were in the mood to get creative. Because we’re artists; all of us in one medium or another. And so it came to be, that on October 7, 2012, 12 artists from Goodland came together under the pavilion at MarGood Park ... Read More »

By Craig Woodward CWoodward@wpl-legal.com On Wednesday, November 14, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, a church which first opened 46 years earlier in November of 1966, many old timers came together to celebrate the life of a Modern Marco pioneer – Helen Tateo. She and her husband, Vince, moved to Marco Island in August of 1966, just a little over a year and a half after the official grand opening of the Island on January 31, 1965. They had first visited in February of 1966 and within eight months moved here permanently, bringing with them their three young sons: Paul, age ... Read More »

COASTAL HISTORY Craig Woodward CWoodward@wpl-legal.com As we reflect on a peaceful Veteran’s Day with great weather and our local beaches full, it is hard to envision a time when Florida skies were full of fighter pilots, our coasts under constant watch for enemy attack, and U.S. sailors both dead and wounded were being brought into Florida hospitals. World War II was not only fought in Europe and in the South Pacific, but was also fought here at home. Few remember that Nazi Germany brought WW II literally to our shores, with U-boats (submarines) paroling up and down our coasts looking for ... Read More »

COASTAL HISTORY Craig Woodward CWoodward@wpl-legal.com The last few issues of this newspaper have contained excellent articles about Cape Romano, regarding the history of the dome house and the former pyramid house built in the early 1980s. This large point of land is one of Florida’s earliest recognized geographic features similar to Florida’s other large cape, Cape Canaveral. So, let’s investigate the early history of Cape Romano. Our story started 500 years ago when, in 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon sailed up the Southwest Coast of Florida on his first discovery trip of Florida. A few years later in 1521, he returned ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff For the past three years, Coastal Breeze News has been delivering a ‘Fresh Perspective’ to Marco Island and its surrounding areas. The Association of Free Community Papers and the Florida Press Association agree. Thanks to the talented work of columnists, editors, photographers, graphic designers, sales and office staff, the Coastal Breeze has received eight awards between these two associations. Two awards garnered general excellence for the paper and six individuals received recognition for their talents. The Florida Press Association, which is open to all newspapers in the state of Florida, granted awards to three contributors ... Read More »

Donna Fiala donnafiala@colliergov.net Have you noticed or is it my imagination??? It seems a few more cars are on the road recently – a sign that our winter residents are beginning to come back home. If you remember, last year these wonderful people started coming back early. It used to be that the influx started in November, then it moved back to October, and now it seems they are coming back even earlier. Also, you may have noticed that as soon as they start coming back, our volunteer corps starts swelling and the events begin to happen – the region ... Read More »

Donna Fiala donnafiala@colliergov.net Marco Island Chamber of Commerce sponsors a successful and worthwhile program called Leadership Marco, where interested people can learn more about Marco Island. I figured I knew a lot about the Island, but I’d heard so many good comments about the program that I applied, and thankfully was accepted. The first introductory program said it all! Nearly 30 involved people got to meet new people and renew old friendships. The second program focused entirely on the history of Marco Island, told by the master himself, Craig Woodward. We spent the entire day learning, and still ran out ... Read More »

By Marilyn Honahan marilyn@coastalbreezenws.com The members of Newcomers Club of Marco Island were entertained at their May monthly meeting by guest speaker, local attorney and historian, Craig Woodward. Craig, an attorney with Woodward Pires and Lombardo, was introduced by the Newcomers Program Co-Chair, Helen McCullough. He grew up in Old Marco moving here with his family in 1968 and has lived here for 44 years. His father was Marco’s first attorney who began practicing here more than 40 years ago. Craig’s love of history led him to raise $1.1 million to help build Marco Island’s Historical Museum where he was ... Read More »

GOODLAND LIFE Natalie Strom nstrom81@yahoo.com As my personal interest in the history of Goodland has grown, I have heard some pretty interesting things about our fishing village. Recently, a neighbor of mine showed me a brochure she had saved from the mid-60’s featuring land for sale in Goodland. In my attempts to find out more about this brochure, I found that it’s not always that easy to find what you’re looking for. Thanks to this nagging brochure, which I was unable to find any information on, I have gathered a bit of history from many sources and conversations. And so, I ... Read More »

COASTAL HISTORY Craig Woodward CWoodward@wpl-legal.com For a young, lightly populated area with a long, unpatrolled coastline, also in close proximity to the major ports of the Caribbean, Prohibition was a financial boon to Collier County. The editor of Naples’ first newspaper “The Transcript,” Vernon Lamme reported that in Naples, in 1927, with a population of less than 800, there were 22 rum runners who owned their own boats. Our coastline was ideally suited for this, having been tested during the 2nd Seminole Indian War when Cuban guns and ammunition flowed up from the Caribbean into SW Florida to arm the ... Read More »

COASTAL HISTORY Craig Woodward CWoodward@wpl-legal.com An article titled “The Headstone Project” was published in this column on October 7, 2011. Donations were requested for the purchase of a headstone for Elizabeth (Lizzie) Weeks Barnes Sawyer. Granny Sawyer, as she was known before her death, was buried in an unmarked grave at the Marco Island Cemetery. She died in 1939, in the middle of the depression and her family had a simple burial at the cemetery, later adding a tabby mortar slab, where her name had once been scratched in the surface. For over half a century there was no visible clue ... Read More »